A Study in Babysitting
by AlaskaMoriarty
Summary: Sherlock looks after John's daughter, solves cases and tells her his biggest secret. A fluffy and angsty fic :)
1. A favour

"Sherlock, could you do me a favour?", John asked sheepishly as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen at 221b, his little 3-year-old daughter, Amalia Sherlock Watson, balanced on his hip.  
The little girl was complaining quietly as she was eager to run over to her favourite uncle and say hello.  
"Sher!" she called and gave the detective a beaming grin.  
From the minute she was born (he had promised John to be there), Sherlock had loved Amalia like his own daughter. He had only loved one other person before Amalia came into his life and that person was John.  
Maybe that was why he had a weak spot for her.  
She only had to look at him with her huge blue eyes and he would have gone to the end of the world for her if she had told him to do so.  
The detective put down his mug as John spoke and walked up to them, picking the toddler up in his arms to hug her gently. Amalia wrapped her small arms around his neck and planted a wet and sticky kiss on Sherlock's cheek what made him chuckle.  
"Hello, Amalia." he said and ruffled her soft light blonde hair before he turned to his best friend.  
"You want me to look after her as it's your wedding day and you would like to have some time for yourselves." Sherlock said and put on a smile so John didn't see how much every single word of this sentence was hurting him. Even after all this time that he had lived without John he hadn't been able to get over his feelings for him. They even got stronger and sometimes it was hard to cope with the fact that John was happily married and had such a beautiful daughter.  
Why did he have to think about all this now?  
He shook his head and tried to focus on the here and now.  
"As much as I adore Amalia...I am not sure if I would be the best choice for a babysitter." Sherlock said slowly with a frown and looked down at the girl.  
John chuckled and shook his head. "You're absolutely fantastic with her, Sherlock. Besides, she insisted to come here and spend some time with you." the doctor grinned and Amalia nodded.  
"I wanna stay here, Sher. Pleeeease!" she gave him her best puppy-look that worked immediately.  
"Alright. Fine." Sherlock sighed deeply. "I'll look after her and you can pick her up again tomorrow morning." "Brilliant. Thank you, Sherlock I really owe you." John beamed at him and patted his shoulder before he leaned forward and kissed Amalia's cheek. "Be a good girl...Daddy will be back tomorrow, okay? We love you." he smiled at her and Amalia took her eyes off of Sherlock who seemed to look absent and quite sad. She couldn't help but wonder if John saw that as well. She would ask him the next day.  
"Okay daddy. Love you too." she gave him a kiss as well and smiled back at him. When John had left, Sherlock blinked and grinned down at her.  
"Just you and me now, mh? What would you like to do?" he asked and walked to the sitting room with her, flopping down on the sofa before placing her on his lap.  
"Can we catch bad guys?" she asked, her eyes sparkling. It was amazing how much Amalia was like Sherlock even though they weren't related at all. And every time he remembered that, just like in that moment, he felt his heart crack a little.  
"Of course we can." he smiled softly and swallowed the thick lump in his throat.  
The next few hours weren't going to be easy.


	2. Married to my work

"What's that?"  
"That's his hand. Well..what's left of it."  
"And this?"  
"Maggots."  
"Ewww!"

Sherlock chuckled and looked through pictures of a crime scene with Amalia.  
He loved how curious she was and the way she absorbed every little piece of information. She wasn't a big help, of course, she was only a toddler, but she seemed to be fascinated by his world so when John wasn't around he sometimes showed her evidence and and told her about the cases he solved.  
She always listened as if it was one of her favourite fairytales and it amused him every time.  
"Can I come to the cwime scene?" she asked and looked up at him beggingy but Sherlocks shook his head.  
"Not yet, little bee but when you are older I'm going to take you with me."  
"Promise?"  
"Promise. Let's do something else now, alright?" he closed the case file and smiled at the little girl.  
Amalia beamed happily and suddenly stood up, looking through her overnight bag. "I brought Cinderella and Snow White. And Little Mermaid." she said and hugged her favourite DVDs to her tiny chest.  
"Can we watch Cinderella? Pleeease, Sher!" she jumped up and down and Sherlock sighed.  
"Yes. We can watch Cinderella, if you like." he said and stood up to take the DVD and put it into the player.  
They curled up on the sofa again and watched the film that was better than Sherlock had expected.

Halfway to the end, when Cinderella and Prince Charming got married, Amalia turned to face Sherlock.  
"Are you married?"  
Sherlock raised an eyebrow in confusion  
"You know that I don't have a wife, Amalia." he said. "But I consider myself married to my work, you know.."  
Amalia frowned at his words, not quite knowing what he meant.  
"I don't understand. You can't hug or kiss your work or say that you love them to the moon and back. "  
"I know...it's a metaphor. A metaphor is-"  
"I know what a metaphor is, you explained it to me, silly." she smiled.  
He tried to remember when he had explained it to her but shrugged it off.  
"However, it's a metaphor..because I'm better off alone. I wouldn't be a good husband...or a father." the detective sighed and ruffled her soft blonde hair.  
"You would be a great daddy, Sher. And everyone who doesn't want to marry you is an idiot." Amalia said and bopped his nose playfully. Sherlock felt his heart clench a little but smiled anyway, looking back at the TV.  
"You look sad." the little girl said suddenly and gave him a worried look. "You always look sad when you think no one is looking."  
"Most adults are sad, love." he smiled down at her and stroked over her cheek absently. "When you grow up you will learn to see the world with different eyes. You will experience immense happiness but also pain that takes your breath away. And I don't mean when you fall off the swing. Pain like losing someone you love and...that's the worst that can happen to you." he said and quickly wiped at his eyes, not really knowing why he had just told her that.  
He didn't want her to be scared of growing up but there was no one else who would have listened to him.  
It was a bit sad that the only person he could talk to was a toddler but if he told John or Mary...he didn't want to think about what would happen.  
Amalia hated to see Sherlock sad like that and climbed onto his lap, hugging him.  
"But you have me...and daddy and mummy and your silly brother. And Mrs Hudson. We will all make it better when you are sad. Promise." she smiled and kissed his cheek and the detective hugged her tightly.  
"Thank you." he whispered.

**[Author's note: Sorry for being so slow with the story and that this chapter is so short but I'll really, REALLY try to continue it quicker :) ]**


End file.
